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People: Cognitive
People in Design
When we take in information using the senses, the brain has to do something with that sensory information.
It takes 100 miliseconds for information we see to go to the brain and another 100 miliseconds for mind to tell body what to do
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Different people perceive the same thing in different ways, because everyone is different.
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I am going to flash an image to you for 10 seconds, I want you to memorise what you see, but don’t write down anything for the moment.
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Now individually spend a few minutes writing down everything you can remember.
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Now individually spend a few minutes writing down everything you can remember.
Compare your descriptions in groups of two or three, where are your descriptions similar and where are they different?
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Now individually spend a few minutes writing down everything you can remember.
Compare your descriptions in groups of two or three, where are your descriptions similar and where are they different?
Did any of you draw the image as well as write about it?
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In this lesson we are going to look at four aspects of cognition:– Attention– Memory– Language– Learning
Attention
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Attention Is regulated by short term memory It is a mental system that enables us to focus
on some information while ignoring other information
Concentration is the ability to focus on the task at hand while ignoring distractions
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Learning to drive (or ride a bike) is a perfect example of a new element of learning becoming automaticy (moving into ‘automaticity’ so we never need to think about all the multiple tasks involved.
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This process takes different amounts of time for everyone. You are not comparing like with like. This is why it is hard for some people to pass their tests. Some people (those with Dyspraxia) may NEVER pass driving tests because they just cant manage their attention resources on the many tasks required simultaneously.
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Two kinds of attention:
– Passive Attention - controlled by external stimuli (e.g. loud noise)
– Active Attention - controlled by the individual’s goals (e.g. TV)
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Speak aloud the colour of each word:
YELLOWRED
GREENBLUEWHITEGREEN
REDYELLOW
BLUE
GREENBLUERED
YELLOWWHITE
YELLOWGREEN
REDBLUE
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GREENYELLOW
REDPURPLEWHITEPINK
BLACKRED
YELLOW
Now these words (say the colour now the word):
BLACKWHITE
YELLOWRED
PURPLEREDPINK
YELLOWGREEN
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This is the Stroop effect When the name of a colour is printed in a
colour not denoted by the name (e.g., the word "red" printed in blue ink instead of red ink), naming the colour of the word takes longer and is more prone to errors than when the colour of the ink matches the name of the colour.
John Ridley Stroop
Born March 21st, 1897 Died Sept 1st, 1973 Born in Tennessee,
USA Identified the Stroop
Effect. Psychologist,
Educationalist, Instructor, and American Man of Science.
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What can interfere with attention in the environment?– Everyone has different preferences for how they
work best. Music and lighting can be very important as well as time of day.
– Can you sleep with the light on?– Can you sleep with music or the TV on?
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There are two types of attention– Selective attention – ability to focus on one thing
while ignoring everything else– Divided attention – being able to do two things
at the same time. This works only if using two different senses (unless it is two language tasks like talking and typing).
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QUESTION:– Can you listen to a sports commentary while
driving the car without it impairing your driving?
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ANSWER:– No. If you start visualising the game in progress
that detracts from the attentional resources you have left to drive with.
– It isn't really even good to use the phone in he car even with hands free.
– The conversation should be very short and not require much attention (e,g, ‘I will be home in 30 minutes’)
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Can we focus attention on two tasks at the same time?– Pat your head and rub your stomach– Talk on the phone and type– Chop vegetables and watch the TV– Turn right foot clockwise and draw figure of 6 in
the air!
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Automaticity New tasks take all our attentional
resources– Learning to drive– Learning to write
Tasks that we have practiced become automatic– Driving and talking– Listening to a lecture and taking notes
Memory
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There are four types of memory essential for information processing and retention– Sensory Memory– Working and Short-Term Memory– Long-Term Memory
PERCEPTION
SensoryMemory
Short-TermMemory Long-Term
MemoryWorkingMemory
SensoryMemory
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Sensory Memory This allows individuals to retain
impressions of sensory information after the original stimulus has ceased
It is composed of three types– Iconic Memory– Echoic Memory– Haptic Memory
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Iconic Memory– For visual information, very brief (<1000
ms). Echoic Memory
– For auditory information, for a short period of time (3–4 seconds).
Haptic Memory– For touch information, for a short period of
time (2 seconds).
Short-Termand Working
Memory
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The terms “Short-term memory” and “Working memory” are often used interchangeably but there are some differences between them.
Their relationship is described differently by various theories, but it is generally acknowledged that the two concepts are distinct.
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“Short-term memory” is the capacity to store information long enough for us to understand, and respond to it (e.g. memorising a phone number)
“Working memory” is the capacity to organise and manipulate information (e.g. holding intermediate results in mental arithmetic)
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More on Short-Term Memory– Information that is stored in Short-Term
Memory disappears very quickly unless something is done to retain it.
– George A. Miller determined a “magic” number the indicates how many chunks of information we can retain.
George Armitage Miller
Born Feb 3, 1920 Born in Charleston, West Virginia Psychologist and Cognitive Scientist founder of WordNet Discovered “Miller’s Magic Number”
7 ± 2
Miller’s Magic Number
Miller’s Magic Number
George A. Miller looked at Memory span - which is a long list of items (e.g., digits, letters, words) that a person can repeat back immediately after presentation in correct order.
Miller observed that memory span of young adults is approximately 7 chunks. He noticed that memory span is approximately the same for stimuli with vastly different amount of information.
Long-TermMemory
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Long-Term Memory– The capacity of our long-term memory is
possibly infinite. It is believed that we have a record of all we have ever said, read, written, done, seen or experienced.
– The problem, however, is accessing this information!
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Long-Term Memory– What is your earliest memory?– Can you remember the first day at school? – What specific dates can you remember?– Can you remember names or faces?– Does any music/ a smell remind you of the
past?
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What are good strategies for putting information into Long-Term Memory?– e.g. After the lecture:– Review the information immediately– Review again the next day– Review again in a week– Review after a month– Review again for exams
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Other strategies?– Songs and Rhymes– Diagrams– Concept Maps– Acronyms– Acrostics– The Method of Loci
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Have you even tried to do a MindMap?
Perception
AttentionMemory
Language
Actions
Perception
AttentionMemory
Language
Actions
Cognition
Language
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What is language?– We tend to think of a language as being
speech (or sign)– The sounds of spoken language and the
shapes and movements of signs are symbols that represent our understanding about society and the world.
– They operate under a rule system which we call a grammar.
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Language Processing– Perception combines with Attention,
Learning, and Memory in language processing.
– Generally we describe language processing in terms of two processes
Language Perception (Understanding of something said/signed)
Language Production (Formulation of something you say/sign)
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Language Perception– involves the understanding and– interpretation of some sounds – (or movements)– hear/see a message– holds it in working memory– break the message into grammatical items– constructs the meaning
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Language Perception– The difficulty with receiving other people’s
language input is that we don’t always arrive at the exact meaning the person intended.
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Language Perception– Educationist Diana Laurillard points out that
this can be a real problem for teaching, and has developed a model called the Conversational Framework to describe the issue.
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Language Perception– Laurillard’s Conversational Framework
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Language Production– Planning the message occurs at a non-
verbal level in 3 stages: Conceptualisation Formulation Generation
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Language Production– Because it is ourselves generating the
message we know exactly what we mean.– But that doesn’t mean that others will
understand our communications.
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Communication Difficulties– Idiomatic speech– Literal interpretation– Turn taking in conversation– Taking over the conversation– Talking about the same topic for too long!– General speech difficulties– Auditory memory difficulties – getting the
first bit but forgetting the end of the sentence
Learning
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Learning is the process by which we acquiring new knowledge and skills, and may involve bringing together different types of information.
It is built on what we already know, and progress over time tends to follow learning curves
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There are many theories and views that attempt to explain how learning occurs, we will look at three of them:
Behaviourism Cognitivism Constructivism
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Behaviourism– This theory suggests learning is achieved through
actions and behaviour.– Learning can be seen as incremental, often using
trial-and-error.– The learner has to be ready to learn, otherwise
they won’t succeed.– Learning is most effective by doing.
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Behaviourism– To teach someone a new skill, teachers should
reward the learner when they are doing something right, and tell them when they are doing something wrong.
– Sometimes people get confused about this and think that the Behaviourism approach advocates that you punish incorrect learning, it doesn’t, it just says to correct them.
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Behaviourism– Some famous behaviourists are:
– Ivan Pavlov– Edward Thorndike– John B. Watson– B.F. Skinner
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Cognitivism– This theory attempts to explain learning for the
point-of-view of the processes in the brain (including ideas like attention, memory, and language).
– Learning can be seen as schema or scripts that people internalise to understand the world.
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Cognitivism– Cognitivists think learning happens best when a
series of steps are followed, e.g. Get attention Identify objectives of learning Review content Practice on examples/case studies Get Feedback Assess performance
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Cognitivism– Some famous cognitivists are:
– Max Wertheimer– Kurt Lewin– Robert M. Gagné– George A. Miller
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Constructivism– This theory suggests that when learning is “real”
and has authentic goals it will succeed.– The teacher should try to encourage students to
discover principles and theories by themselves.
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Constructivism– For constructivists knowledge that is learned is
not neutral, but has a social and cultural context, e.g. Which side of the road you drive a car on varies between countries.
– Learning should be complex enough so that it is not boring, but easy enough so that it doesn’t cause anxiety.
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Constructivism– Some famous constructivists are:
– Jerome S. Bruner – Jean Piaget– Lev Vygotsky – Maria Montessori
